


Put on a Happy Smile

by enjolfrance



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 19:48:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8635864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjolfrance/pseuds/enjolfrance
Summary: Allie Williams' life is nothing extraordinary, that is until one day everything changes and she meets the one and only Sherlock Holmes.





	

"That's all we need, thank you."

Allie stopped suddenly, swallowing back her disappointment and plastering on the most convincing smile she could muster in seconds.

"Okay, thank you." She replied sweetly walking over to collect her sheet music before leaving the room. She was faced with countless hopefuls, all looking up to see if she'd made the cut or not. She wasn't going to let them see the decision either way, instead she kept her head up, her smile forced on and whispered a 'break a leg' to the next girl.

In fact this visage was kept on even as she got outside and headed for the tube. Her mind threw many a curveball at her, the weeks of practice, the five hour wait in line, getting stuck on the tube before that for over an hour all for eight bars and six words. Tears stung at her eyes and she quickly blinked them back, taking a deep breath of the sharp winter air.

"You're outside, it's a clear winters day and you have it all to yourself." She whispered to herself. "Make the most of it." And with that thought in mind she promptly headed towards Piccadilly in search of Macaroons. 

London could be a dangerous city, everyone knew that. But after two years of living there Allie had encountered nothing more than a couple of close calls with strange men following her, walking home as the sun set seemed like a peaceful idea rather than contending with the hoards of people on the underground. At least up here she could watch the bright orange sun illuminate the rooftops as it began to sink behind them.

As she rounded the corner of her neighbourhood, watching the light dance on the roofs she noticed something new and strange. Something sticking out of one of the rooftop terraces. As she walked closer she noticed the top of a head next to it and her breath hitched. It was a gun, and someone quietly aiming it very precisely. 

Following it's line she noticed an unsuspecting man busily shouting down his phone. He seemed… normal? No reason to be killed surely? But then looks can be deceiving an all that. She followed the line back up to the marksman noting his sandy blonde hair, and as she tried to take in more of his appearance from a different angle he clearly felt her gaze, moving his sight from his target to her.

She froze, locking eyes with him, her entire body seemed to shake. This is how people get killed isn't it? Witness to a murder, she'd seen him, he'd seen her. This was it. Her brain scrambled with logic as she shifted her gaze to the floor and continued walking as if seeing nothing. Perhaps he would think she was looking past him?

As she turned the corner two gunshots echoed around her. Sinking into a nearby ally she tried to catch her breath, but her heart was pounding, her head swimming. That man was dead. Sinking into the darkness she finally let her tears from earlier fall, except that all felt so insignificant now, now she didn't have a clue what would happen next. She was terrified and curled up as tightly as she could in a dark corner hoping no one would find her.

Allie wasn't sure how long had passed before she heard sirens. Looking up from her knees she saw blue lights flash past the end of the alleyway momentarily illuminating her. She'd be safe now surely? With police surrounding her gunmen wouldn't dare try and… She couldn't even finish the thought. But for the first time that night she felt safe. 

Slowly clambering to her feet she wobbled, trying to get some feeling back into her legs. It was freezing and she'd spent all day outside, combine that with her shock and fear and she was shivering with the best of them.

Every movement seemed to take all of her energy, she moved slowly and as she turned the corner she was greeted by a range of flashing lights, she closed her eyes turning away from the brightness.

"I'm sorry Miss you'll need to turn around and go down the next road." A policeman addressed her softly, giving her a small smile as he motioned behind her.

"I saw it, him… I…" She didn't know what to say and in a panic looked up at the rooftop expecting to see a gun aiming straight at her, but it was deserted. Her body physically slumped in relief as her legs gave way. The policeman was quick to react, catching her before she hit the floor.

"Woah miss, okay come with me." He led her to the back of an ambulance where a kind paramedic gave her two blankets and checked her over quickly. She watched as the woman walked away before her gaze started to dart between the rooftop and the man, now covered with a sheet. 

"Excuse me miss?" Another voice snapped her out of her thoughts as she looked up to see a kind face. "I'm detective inspector Lestrade, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" He knelt down in front of her, she assumed to try and be slightly less intimidating. He may have looked and sounded harmless, but his title suggested anything but. She nodded, her eyes flicking back up to the rooftop, expecting everything to go black the second she gave over any information.

"I know it's scary." He smiled slightly. "So let's start with the basics, what's your name?"

"Allie Williams." She smiled back, her voice coming out surprisingly hoarse. Although, thinking back on the past few hours maybe not so surprising.

"Allie, how old are you?"

"26." 

"And do you live around here?" She nodded in response. "Can you tell me what happened? Is that okay?" Lestrade continued cautiously. 

"I was walking home, and I saw something weird sticking out on the rooftop." She pointed to the spot. "It was a gun, and a man and he was aiming at…" Her voice trailed off as she connected the image of the shouting man to the body.

"Right." Lestrade's eyebrows raised a little, not expecting this girl to have actually seen the killer.

"He's here." A lady whispered in his ear with a tone of disgust. He simply nodded in response and stood up.

"I'll be back in a moment, there may be someone else that wants to ask you some questions." He looked slightly unsure with his last statement but left anyway leaving Allie to pull the blankets even tighter around herself.

Watching the Detective she saw him greet two men. One was slightly shorter than him, also very kind looking with greying hair. The other, well he was the polar opposite to them both. He stood much taller, his dark brown hair curled in all the right places as though he'd spent hours perfecting them into place. When in actual face, she thought slightly resentfully, he probably did wake up like that. As she examined him he felt her gaze and turned to her. Her eyes widened and breath hitched again, remembering the cold eyes of the man with the gun.

Looking down at her ever so slightly blue hands she heard the trio walk towards her.

"Miss Williams? This is John Watson." Lestrade pointed to the smaller man who smiled warmly at her. "And this is…" 

"Sherlock Holmes, yes that doesn't matter. You saw the killer?" The taller man cut him off and looked down at her expectantly.

"Um, yes." She stuttered, caught off guard by his abruptness.

"Um yes, or definitely yes?" He imitated her slightly which for some reason really pissed her off. Her face dropped as her jaw tightened slightly.

"Sherlock." John scalded the tall man as though he were a child. Allie bit the inside of her cheek trying not to smile at his slight shut down.

"Definitely yes." She replied firmly. "He was up on that rooftop." She once again pointed to the exact spot. "I noticed him because that flat has been empty for months now, nothing had changed until today there was something sticking out slightly and that's when I noticed him from the side. The railings have a slight gap from back there. "She pointed to where she had walked earlier. "So you could see the top of his shoulders up. His hair was sandy blonde, he was quite a strong build from what I could tell and on the taller side. Anything else Mr. Holmes?" By this point she had stood up to try and gain some height, but it was useless. She still only just came up to the top of his chest and good god up close he was intimidating.

John looked between the two of them, smiling at the girl. She was little but she had guts, there weren't many people he'd seen literally stand up to Sherlock Holmes and she wasn't budging. She stood staring up at him with her arms tightly crossed under her blankets her face set in defiance despite the fact she was visibly shaking.

"Yes a couple of things actually." Sherlock replied equally as stern, his gaze never leaving hers. "The man in that body bag, what was he doing before he was killed?"

His coldness took her by surprise, despite the fact he kept his eyes firmly on her she looked over to see the man being moved into a body bag and her composure crumbled. She'd never seen a dead body before, but knowing that just hours ago he had been alive and she'd seen him threw her completely. Could she have helped? Could she have warned him?

"Miss Williams, what was he doing and did you interact with him?" Sherlock added impatiently.

"Sherlock." John scalded again, snapping Allie back to the pair. "Is it your first time seeing a dead body?" He asked her kindly, guiding her to sit back down. She nodded leaning on him slightly. He was so warm.

Sherlock watched the girl in front of him. Strange how humans worked. One minute so strong and sure, and insightful. The next she seemed dumb and completely useless. She couldn't even support her own body, he watched her as John wrapped a supportive arm around her shoulder. She seemed to shake more, despite the new heat.

"He was on the phone, I didn't hear much but he was speaking french." She tried to recall what she'd heard. "He needed more time." She looked up at Sherlock, her features softer this time. "He was scared, I think he knew it was coming."

"What makes you think that?" Sherlock smiled down at her. It wasn't a comforting smile, more acknowledgement that she could in fact be useful.

"He stammered, a lot, his french was patchy at best and he was sweating. He was pacing and glancing around at every noise. I don't think he expected it today but he knew he was in trouble." She finished before quickly adding. "And no I didn't interact with him."

"Why did you take in so much detail? Why didn't you instead warn him of his upcoming demise?" Sherlock wondered if it was a step too far, but he also realised this girl answered best when she needed to prove someone wrong.

"Because that's what I do. I like to analyse things, look at my surroundings and see what I can take from it. There's always a why behind someone's actions and…" She faltered, wondering why she didn't warn the man. "I was scared." She whispered, not really wanting to admit it. "He saw me, the sniper. He looked me straight in the eye and I panicked." Looking up at Sherlock he saw it for the first time, complete terror was in her eyes and for a second he softened. He went to prod more but he could feel John staring him down and figured it best to not push her anymore.

"Are you sure he was actually looking at you? Not someone else?" John tried.

"There was no one else." She realised she'd stopped shivering and pushed the blankets off her, wondering how much longer she'd have to answer questions. But also not wanting to leave their company. She felt safe with them. The second they left and it was just her back at her empty flat she knew anything could happen.

"We need to get you some protection then." Sherlock said as a matter of fact. "And you could be valuable to solving this. There is a safe house we can take you to."

"Will I be alone?" Allie slurred quickly before she could stop herself.

"No, there will be police officers there with you and John and myself will be there tomorrow to solve this." He nodded at her watching as she moved the blankets away, her movements slow and laboured. His gaze flickered to John who had also picked up on this.

"How long have you been outside Allie?" John asked gently moving the blanket back around her shoulders.

"I- I don't know." She replied looking between them as Sherlock made mental notes, she moved to push the blanket away again,her speech had changed, how had he not noticed her last answer was slurred? It wasn't from fear though. He had seen her blue tinged hands as she continued to try and push away the heat and whilst he could tell she was usually pale she looked almost ghostly now. Pulling a tissue out of his pocket his handed it to her. She looked up at him confused.

"Could you take your lipstick off?" 

"Um, what?" She looked at him confused as he simply held it out more for her. Slowly she reached for it, her whole body ached and it seemed to take everything in her just to reach up for it.

"You were violently shivering but now you push away any form of heat,you've had a surge of blood to your extremities thinking that you're too hot, on the contrary you're still freezing. Blue fingers, exceedingly pale, your speech has begun to slur and when it comes to physical movement you're slow and it seems to be a struggle for you." He watched as she removed her lipstick, her lips underneath matching the blue shade of her hands. "And your lips are blue all signs of severe hypothermia I'm surprised you didn't notice earlier Doctor Watson."

John faltered looking at Allie. He hadn't noticed. Of course he'd noticed the shivering, and when it stopped. That was when he worried but that was at the same time as Sherlock, until then he'd been looking away from her, up at Sherlock he had no idea.

"Okay, it's the hospital tonight then." John stated calling over the paramedic.

"I-I'm fine." She looked between them thoroughly confused as to what the hell had happened to her day.

"We'll be through to see you tomorrow Miss Williams." Sherlock stated ignoring her confusion.

"We can't just leave her can we?" John watched as the paramedic slowly got Allie onto the stretcher, starting to fuss around her as the doors closed.

"We have no connection to her, why should we stay?"

"Um because she's alone and we've contributed to her state. If you hadn't spent so long quizzing her she could have been at home warming up." John argued back.

"Or she could have been alone ignoring the symptoms instead of doing something about them and treating them. So in a way we've helped her." He smiled at his winning argument as John huffed.

"Well, I'm going to see her. To make sure she's okay. If you want her help it would be wise to keep her on your good side." He added knowing it would sway him. Sherlock simply rolled his eyes heading to their waiting cab and giving them the hospital address.

"Are you coming to see her or are you going to stand there all night?" Sherlock yelled at John, as the shorted man mumbled under his breath. "We'll see you in the morning Gary." He shouted at Lestrade.

"Greg!" He yelled in response. "It's Greg." He sighed adding quietly to himself.


End file.
